In yesterday’s blog I shared some thoughts on the importance of teachers keeping writer’s notebooks. I also shared that, while I have found my writer’s notebook to be a valuable teaching tool during mini-lessons and individual conferences, it is becoming cumbersome because it has no organization to it. When I first started this notebook, it contained random entries for no particular audience. As I have begun to use it as a teaching tool, however, I’m realizing that I need it to have some order. One of my summer goals is to re-do my writer’s notebook so that it is more organized and user friendly when I confer with students. I want to have different sections for various genres and examples of writing that will accompany my units of study: personal narrative, poetry, essay, etc....

If you are a writing teacher, I highly encourage you to keep a writer’s notebook. Because I’m not much of a journal writer, keeping a writer’s notebook used to intimidate me, and it seemed like “one more thing” to put on my to-do list. Then a few summers ago, I participated in the Oakland Writing Project which is affiliated with the National Writing Project. For four weeks I had to live like a writer. I had to keep a writer’s notebook, write some drafts, share them with my colleagues in a peer response group, and even publish a couple of pieces. Guess what I found out? I really enjoyed keeping a writer’s notebook and “living a writerly life” (as Ralph Fletcher would word it). I vowed to continue adding to my notebook. You can...